The international media launch of the new Fiat Linea sedan, which will be manufactured at the Bursa plant belonging to the Turkey Automotive Factory Corporation (Tofaş), will take place during the first week of May.

The new C-segment "3-box" Linea will take to the roads in Istanbul with a huge, glitzy presentation. The new sedan will be built by Tofaş in Turkey, with its annual production being projected at 60,000 units. Tofaş CEO Ali Pandır announced earlier this month there will be around 1,500 guests attending the launch celebrations from outside Turkey. "We have invited Fiat Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, Fiat Brand Director Luca de Meo and many distinguished people," he added.

For Tofaş, the Linea's launch will be extra special as it will be the first time the Turkish carmaking company, which is jointly owned by Fiat Group Automobiles Spa and the national conglomerate Koç Holdings, has managed the worldwide launch of a vehicle it manufactures. Tofaş currently builds and exports a range of vehicles including the Doblò light commercial range and the Palio and Siena members of the "Project World Car" family. Tofas was last month given responsibility for the African, Eastern European and Middle East markets.

The Fiat Linea will take head on two established and popular-selling cars on the Turkish market: the Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus. However the new Fiat is a stylish, well presented sedan with generous interior room, which is expected to boast high equipment levels, class-leading safety features and a wide range of petrol and diesel engines; and the Tofaş has very high hopes for its local success. Tofaş will also export the car to a number of European nations. As well as a swage of Eastern European countries, the Linea is likely to be sold in selected Western European states including Italy, Greece, France and Germany.
 

The Fiat Linea joins two other low cost base cars that are now being built in Turkey and exported to Europe: Renault's Logan, which is marketed through its specific Dacia brand, and the Mitsubishi L200. The entry-level Dacia model, which Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has often stated he has been impressed with from a business concept point of view, is built in the Cappadocia region, while its Japanese counterpart is assembled in Antalya.

Last year Fiat's profits hit 291 million euros, while sales climbed to 51.8 billion euros. Tofaş has played its part in this success, particularly with the Doblò which has help Fiat to boost its performance in the Light Commercial Vehicle sector. As Fiat now tilts at a new target of 67 billion euros in revenues by 2010, Tofaş will be expected to play an ever increasing part in the Turinese firm's plans. "We estimate sales of 3.5 millions cars in 2010 and we will significantly benefit from Turkey in our goal," Marchionne commented recently. Aside from the Doblò and Linea, a small new LCV, codenamed Minicargo and developed in conjunction with PSA Peugeot-Citroën, will reach the markets next year, while the new C-segment Bravo hatchback is also likely to be assembled at Bursa in the future, as is the forthcoming 500 model, which will built in Turkey to ease production capacity pressure on its primary assembly point, the Fiat factory located at Tychy in Poland.